Monday, February 26, 2007

I am SOOOO ready for winter to be over. SO READY. I need some sunshine, to hear the birds singing and spend way too much time cleaning up my poor neglected yard/gardens. But the cold wind still blows and all I know is that I can look forward to St. Patrick's Day with certainty. Ahh, yes. It's on a Saturday this year, so there will be no need to burn vacation to attend the parade and partake in festivities. And my favorite local brewery has already released it's seasonal Irish red ale. Hurray! I love Boulevard's Irish Ale. I think I have reviewed it, half-assedly, before, but I think I owe a true report on one of my fave's. Perhaps tonight. Ooh! Now there's another thing to look forward to.

Monday, February 12, 2007

Sunday, February 11, 2007

I read this article tonight, and I had to share. I am a beer fan and all, but this cracked me up.

"For years brewers and beer lovers have paired beer and chocolate," says Ray Daniels, spokesperson for the Brewers Association, a national trade association for craft brewers. "During a week when many Americans celebrate with chocolate, we want to introduce them to the sensual and romantic marriage of beer and chocolate pairings."

You can read it all via the link above, but the nut is that porters and stouts do well with chocolate because they have toasted, roasted, almost coffee like flavors. The other types of beers that pair well are hefeweizens, and strong Belgian ales.

Wednesday, February 07, 2007

Say yeah for chemical explosions. Say yeah for not really realizing what all of those warehouse, industrial-type areas just north of downtown have going on until something explodes. Say yeah for really black skies, stinky air, and mild, momentary panic. I started to imagine that I had a headache & sore throat. Maybe I did. Or maybe I am highly susceptible to suggestion. I lifted this pic straight from KansasCity.com. Just to spread the love, you can read the story via MyFoxKC.

Me & a few others had a scheduled dinner with a rep who was in town. Most everyone bailed after our company excused everyone early to escape the smoke, going home to theoretically save their own lungs, with the outside air circulation vent turned off in their cars. Being a fool, I decided that it wasn't that bad, and met the rep for dark stouts at McCoy's Public House. The stouts were tasty, the company was good, and the raging chemical fire seems to be less of a threat now.

When it thunders, I go outside to look. When the tornado siren wails, I go straight to the nearest, biggest window. If I had been standing on the beach in Thailand, I'd be the idiot pointing and exclaiming, look, something crazy is going on with the water. Whoosh. Keep your fingers crossed for me that nothing truly freaky was burning. I think my throat is getting sore...

Monday, February 05, 2007

O'Dowd's Little Dublin on the Country Club Plaza just got a new chef, revamped the entire menu, and are trying to promote it with a buy one get one for lunch. If you want the emailed offer, hit me up & I'll forward it to you. I hope to get there for lunch this week - the offer expires 2/12, next Monday. I really hope that they didn't remove a single boxty from the menu. They are my favorite!